The Province reported that due to public curiosity about "the background of killer whales," Walter was the "biggest draw" of the 1967 Vancouver Boat Show, held at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds.
This was the first deliberate multi-orca capture, and marked the full transition of orca captivity from opportunistic novelty to commercial enterprise.
[9] Ted Griffin had hoped to deliver a rented orca to the Portland Boat, Trailer and Sports Show, which opened February 17.
The Portland plan was dead for 1967,[11] but the traveling Boat and Sports Show was about to move to Vancouver, British Columbia, in March, and the rental agreement was continuing.
[13] At an estimated 16 feet (4.9 metres), the orca chosen for the Vancouver Boat Show was the largest and eldest of the five secured at the Seattle Public Aquarium, and the last to arrive, on March 4.
[16] Following continual phone calls from irate citizens who didn't "want Walter to become another Moby Doll or Namu," the SPCA took particular interest in the whale.
"Each hour, hundreds of sightseers filed into the tent, where Griffin gave a brief presentation about orcas, assuring listeners that the species was far friendlier than most believed.
"[2] The orca's future trainer Mark Perry in a 2013 interview recalled that "the water in the pool was dirty, making it hard to get a good look."
'"[2] On March 16, Vancouver's leading radio host Jack Webster broadcast Walter[2] in "the first whale-to-whale telephone call in history."
[21] The Boat Show turned out to be a prelude to a long career when the Vancouver Aquarium did not want to let the rented star orca leave the city and bought Walter.
The Province's columnist Himie Koshevoy described the orca "issuing small mewing noises sounding like a kitten seeking comfort.
The whale was fed "100 pounds of fish, mostly ling cod and herring, in four daily feedings," illustrated in an intimate photograph with Terry McLeod, who had also been Moby Doll's trainer.
In Walter's new tank at the Vancouver Aquarium, Vince Penfold reversed the problem he had had with Moby Doll, whose "feminine" name had been given to a male orca.
[3] From the moment the young orca arrived, she became the Vancouver Aquarium's "prime attraction and an invaluable asset to the city's growing tourist industry.